Rep. Pete King to Newsmax TV: My Vote a 'Signal to Senate'

Explaining being the lone Republican to vote for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's $3 trillion coronavirus bailout, retiring Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., told Newsmax TV he did so to "send a signal to the Senate" over the need for state and local government funding.

"First of all, 90% of the extraneous matter is going to be knocked out when it goes to the Senate," King told "Saturday Report" about the bill Pelosi brought forward with Republican imput or congressional debate, and which includes a number of Democratic wish list items. "The reason I voted for it is that Sen. McConnnell has been totally irresponsible when talking about letting states go bankrupt.

"There's absolutely no assurance at all that he was going to bring up aid to state and local governments, which we have to have. The only vehicle to get that to the Senate was this bill."

"He abdicated," King added of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "He walked away. He said he was going to stand back and look. That gave Nancy Pelosi the opportunity to step up. If McConnell was doing his job, this wouldn't have happened."

King admits, while ripping Sen. McConnell, he will rely on him to thoroughly vet out the Democratic items stuffed in the largest relief aid bill in U.S. history, breaking the $2.2 trillion Phase 3 bill signed by the president earlier this spring. A total of 14 Democrats even voted against the bill, perhaps on the issue of not having a say in its construction.

"I opposed 90-95% of all that extraneous matter that's in the bill, and I expect Sen. McConnell to knock it out," King told host Grant Stinchfield. "Nancy Pelosi knows it's going to be knocked out; that was a campaign statement."

King said his Long Island, New York, district has more coronavirus cases than any other Republican district in the U.S.

"We're talking about money directly related to the coronavirus; that's all we're talking about, not a cent for any other of [N.Y. Gov.] Andrew Cuomo's schemes or plans," King told Stinchfield. "That again is the nonsense that's being put out there by people like McConnell appealing to his base supporters in the elections this year.

"The fact is New York has spent billions of dollars on coronavirus. That's all we're hoping for."

"So, no, I'm not looking for anything to bail out Cuomo or [New York City Mayor Bill] de Blasio or anybody else," he added. "I want the reimbursements entirely for coronavirus."

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